translation-files/skills/translation-review/SKILL.md

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name: translation-review description: Review Chinese-English translations for quality issues - terminology, grammar, consistency, formatting. Two workflows: CSV/XLSX batch review (write .dj suggestions) and .dj comparison line-by-line review (surgical patching).

Translation Review

Two workflows, used depending on input format.

Workflow A: CSV/XLSX batch review

Use when input is a CSV/XLSX with Chinese/English columns. Produces an edit-suggestions.dj file.

1. Get the data into CSV

If XLSX, export to CSV (or use openpyxl). CSV is faster.

2. Read the full file

Use read_file with offsets for complete coverage. Don't sample.

3. Write a systematic analysis script

Write to /tmp/script.py, run with python3 /tmp/script.py. No heredocs or -c.

The script should:

• Parse CSV with csv.DictReader
• Apply detection rules per category
• Collect issues: row number, CN text, EN text, problem, suggested fix
• Group/deduplicate identical issues

Common detection categories:

• Buddhist terminology: 正念→mindfulness (not "righteous thoughts"), 布施→generosity (not "alms")
• Identity terms: 学士/修士/胜士/智士 are practice stages, not titles
• Literal machine translations: "hard drive" for 硬盘 (endurance)
• 四摄法 terms: 同事→"acting in harmony", 爱语→"kind speech"
• Grammar: subject-verb agreement, unbalanced quotes
• Typos/formatting: Chinese punctuation in English, "IOS"→"iOS"
• Inconsistency: same CN term translated differently across rows

4. Write edit-suggestions.dj

Format:

# 1

original: <Chinese text or key term>
translated: <current English>

<Explanation and suggested fix.>

# 2
...

One entry per problem category, not per row. Mention affected row numbers.

Workflow B: .dj comparison file review

Use when input is a .dj comparison file (Chinese/English alternating line pairs). Produces translation-findings.dj and applies patches.

1. Read the full file

Use terminal: cat — read_file deduplicates within a session.

2. Scan for problems (ordered by severity)

Sanity checks first (mechanical, no judgment needed):

• Line count: source and target must match exactly. Mismatch means paragraphs were dropped, merged, or split.
• Em-dash convention: AGENTS.md says English em-dash (—) → three hyphens (---). The Chinese source often uses ------ (six hyphens) as its em-dash equivalent — convert to --- in target, not to a Unicode —. A find/replace — → --- over the target file catches all instances at once; a typical long file has 30–50.
• TOC format: AGENTS.md says TOC must be a plain bullet list, no link targets. If target still has [I. Heading](#...) markdown links, strip them.

Terms database drift (systematic):

• Cross-reference glossary terms against the MPI terms database
• CLI preferred: python3 /home/user/documents/mpi/terms-search/search.py <query>. For a review, batch many queries in one execute_code script (subprocess loop) — one terminal call per term is slow and noisy.
• Source priority: DoT定稿 > 内部特色词 > 佛教术语 > 经论名
• Fix both glossary comments AND body text
• See references/terms-db-alignment.md for batch-lookup patterns

Real errors (affect meaning):

• Mistranslation of key terms
• Garbled/malformed source text
• Wrong proper names or technical terms

Inconsistency (confusing but not wrong):

• Terminology drift across file
• Numbering style chaos
• Grammatical voice/person shifts

Cleanup needed:

• Processing artifacts (HTML comments, markers)
• Stray spacing in Chinese text
• Awkward line splits
• Odd word choices
• Redundant English calques: when the target mirrors a Chinese grammar pattern literally, it can read as a typo (e.g. "mind of death-mindfulness" for 念死之心 — should be "mindfulness of death").
• Clunky idioms: 一念之差 → "a single thought of difference" is unidiomatic. Standard renderings exist (e.g. "a single errant thought", "a moment's carelessness", or rephrase as "a single thought can make all the difference").

Missing content: bare headings with no body — flag, don't invent.

3. Dump findings to translation-findings.dj

Finding N — Title (line numbers)
  Chinese: ...
  English: ...
  Issue: description

4. Apply fixes with patch

Surgical string replacement. Verify every patch with cat — never rely on read_file (session dedup).

Buddhist terminology reference

See references/buddhist-terminology.md for Chinese-English term mappings and common pitfalls.

Pitfalls

• Don't use heredocs or -c — write to /tmp/script.py first
• Deduplicate aggressively — group by problem type, not per-row
• Buddhist terminology is technical — don't guess. When uncertain, flag for review
• Never delete .dj comparison files — intentional work artifacts
• Verify patches with cat — read_file dedup makes it unreliable
• Re-read before fixing — user may have made interim edits
• Em-dash drift: AGENTS.md mandates — (Unicode em-dash) → --- (three hyphens) in English djot. The Chinese source often uses ------ (six hyphens) as its em-dash equivalent; converters or translators may preserve it as a Unicode — in the target, which is a convention violation. Run a single find/replace — → --- over the target. Long files typically have 30–50 such instances.
• Batch terminology lookups — when checking many terms against the terms DB, run them in one execute_code script that loops over a query list and calls search.py via subprocess.run. One terminal call per term floods the context with repetitive output.
• Clunky idioms aren't translation errors, they're review items — a literal calque of a Chinese idiom can read as a typo to a native English reader. Flag these under "Cleanup needed", not "Real errors", and suggest a standard rendering rather than trying to fix in place without confirmation.
• Stale-phrasing sweep before declaring done — after applying patches, run a single script that asserts the target contains zero of the fixed-but-replaced strings, zero Unicode em/en-dashes, and the expected count of the new phrasings. Missed instances (e.g. "mind of death-mindfulness" fixed on L21–L24 but forgotten on L68) survive regular spot-checks. Use stale = [...] and new = [...] lists; print [STILL PRESENT (N)] and [OK] per item. Also assert line_count == source.line_count and heading_count == source.heading_count.

References

• references/buddhist-terminology.md — Chinese-English Buddhist term mappings and pitfalls
• references/terms-db-alignment.md — Batch-aligning glossary terms against the MPI terms database